Noxious mould thrives in damp rooms

[Guest guest]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=1392024 & thesection=news & t

hesubsection=general

Scientist Nick Waipara displays a culture of stachybotrys. Picture / Brett

Phibbs

Noxious mould thrives in damp rooms

13.04.2002

By EUGENE BINGHAM and ANDREW LAXON

An ugly explosion of green and black is crawling up the walls of a worrying

number of New Zealand homes.

It is not a common mould, and it may be responsible for unexplained

ill-health.

HortResearch microbiologist Dr Nick Waipara is searching New Zealand homes

for the toxin-producing fungus stachybotrys, which has been linked to

serious illness and deaths in the United States.

Scientists say that stachybotrys outbreaks were rare 10 years ago. But Dr

Waipara said he had already found many examples of it growing in damp New

Zealand homes.

" It's not just stachybotrys either - there's alot of other toxic fungi too, "

he said.

Stachybotrys grows only when materials such as wood or carpet backing are

saturated for an extended period.

Dr Waipara said leaking and rotting problems with many new homes were

creating the perfect conditions for stachybotrys.

Older New Zealand homes were open and draughty, but modern homes were often

airtight.

" If they are poorly sited, shoddily constructed and you are getting rising

damp and hardly any sunlight, suddenly you get all these mould problems, " Dr

Waipara said.

Two years ago, he was involved in a study in Hamilton that found

stachybotrys and other toxic moulds in the homes of asthmatics.

The study has been expanded nationwide as part of a housing and health

research project led by the Wellington Medical School.

Research in the United States had linked stachybotrys with severe health

problems, including bleeding of the lungs, memory loss and breathing

difficulties. But the research remains controversial.

" It's like the smoking argument - for years you couldn't link it, " said Dr

Waipara.

An Auckland building repair expert, Steve , said he often found

stachybotrys when he investigated leaks in new houses.

" I've had cases where I've been brought into a job and people have explained

that various people got sick during the process and they didn't understand

why. "

He believed the mould was not a health hazard until repair work set any

toxic spores airborne.

A senior public health adviser with the Ministry of Health, Dr Alison

, said she was not aware of any confirmed cases of

stachybotrys-related illness in New Zealand.